House gives preliminary OK to migrant drivers

Bill appears headed for passage that would allow a driver privilege card to those unable or unwilling to provide Social Security number

May 7, 2013

Danilo Lopez, a volunteer for the group Migrant Justice, speaks about the decision to give the bill S.38 preliminary approval Monday in the House in Montpelier. S.38 would allow migrant workers in Vermont who are here illegally to apply for drivers licenses. / MADDIE MCGARVEY/FREE PRESS

Duncan Kilmartin, R-Newport, cautions fellow Republicans about the bill that would allow undocumented workers to apply for driver's licenses. The House decided to give the bill preliminary approval. / MADDIE MCGARVEY/FREE PRESS

Kesha Ram, D-Burlington, talks on the House floor about the bill, S.38, which would allow undocumented workers to apply for driver's licenses. The House decided to give the bill preliminary approval Monday. / MADDIE MCGARVEY/FREE PRESS

Those workers face daily practical problems, she said, urging colleagues to pass a bill that would allow them to seek a driver’s license even if they can’t prove their immigration status.

House members agreed, giving the bill preliminary approval by voice vote with virtually no debate Monday. Another vote, and likely longer debate, will come today.

Sitting in the audience, Danilo Lopez, a former farm worker and now volunteer with the group Migrant Justice who is fighting deportation, said he was optimistic the bill would pass with strong support Tuesday. The Senate has already voted 27-2 for the bill. Gov. Peter Shumlin supports it.

“We’ve got a lot of support from the community,” Lopez said.

The bill, S.38, would allow anyone who either doesn’t have or doesn’t want to show a Social Security number to apply for a driver privilege card instead of a Vermont driver’s license, as of next year. The license would be good as federal identification but the privilege card would state that it is not.

The bill is not without controversy. Several amendments are expected as the bill comes up for another vote Tuesday, including one that would require recipients of the driver privilege card to provide fingerprints. Utah has a similar requirement. Farm workers oppose that.

House Republicans in an afternoon meeting expressed discomfort, including with the very idea that foreign workers are working in Vermont without valid documentation, though the practice has been common on dairy farms for more than a decade. An estimated 1,500 foreigners, mostly from Mexico and Guatemala, are working on Vermont dairy farms.

Typically, workers provide immigration papers that farm owners don’t question but that, if scrutinized, would not be valid. Those workers might have a passport from their home country but lack a valid visa allowing them to work in the United States.

“Why don’t we do something in this bill to make them legal?” asked Rep. Carolyn Branagan, R-Georgia.

Congress has been working on that for many years without success, Burke answered.

Rep. Vicki Strong, R-Albany, asked why some farm owners are opposed.

Burke said this of farmers’ opposition: “Some of it comes from farmers who are worried they’ll lose their workers.”

“We have a group of workers who are here. How they got here is beside the point. If they’re here, we want to know who they are. If they’re driving on our roads, we want them to be properly trained,” Burke said. “We’re merely giving them the privilege to drive.”